Zipp News

Courtney Atkinson Wins Australian National Championship on Zipp 404s

Queenslander Courtney Atkinson confirmed his status as a master tactician by successfully defending his Australian Olympic Distance Triathlon title in today’s City of Perth Challenge.

Following what was, by his lofty standards, a poor swim, the Beijing Olympian lead a pack of 16 off the bike before running away from Victorian-based ACT athlete Gareth Halverson at the halfway stage of the 10km run to win in a time of 1hr 46min 17secs. Halverson finished almost a full minute adrift, while up-and-coming Queenslander James Seear snaring bronze and in doing so earned himself automatic selection in the Under 23 field for the World Championships on the Gold Coast in September.

“I had a really poor swim because the young blokes were all hyped up and sprinted out for the first 200 metres and I really battled to get through the field from there,” Atkinson said.

“Gareth went with me on the run and although we’re actually rooming together over here this weekend I really don’t know that much about his racing style and you’re never too sure how things will go because someone always jumps up and has a good day. But at the 5km mark it started to warm up and I suppose I was able to hold my pace and he dropped off a bit. That was the goal – to run out reasonably hard and then stick to a pace that I could hold evenly.”